The Good Life
Success can Come at Any Age
7 min read
•
May 26, 2021
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Studies claim that advancing age is a powerful feature, not a bug, for starting the most successful firms. So, don’t limit yourself to doing something, just because you are getting old. Instead, consider changing your perspective, chase your dreams, and focus on building your achievements. Sooner or later, it will come to you.
When it comes to success - age is just a number. You may think you are too old to achieve your dreams. But, in reality, there’s no deadline or expiration date to achieve success. If you haven’t made it yet, chances are you might achieve it later in life. Just focus on your goals, rather than focusing on your lifeline.
There are plenty of entrepreneurs out there who found success later in life. Age didn’t stop them from becoming successful and famous. If you are looking for inspiration at this age, have a look at these successful entrepreneurs below:
1. Radha Daga, Triguni Foods
Though she was already running a successful garments business, she kept going back to her passion – food. She zeroed in on the ready-to-eat market in 2009, traveled to different countries to learn more about preparation techniques, packaging, and marketing of quick-fix meals. The year 2011 saw her first range of products launch in Chennai. Today she is producing some 160,000 tubs a month; the growth rate is almost 100% year-on-year. Daga was in her 60’s when she started her food business venture.
2. LR Sridhar,Connect India
Sridhar was initially the Group Managing Director of South Asian cargo conglomerate Sical. Sridhar’s startup story began when Cafe Coffee Day’s V G Sidhartha acquired Sical. Here Sridhar had two options – to continue with Sical or start something new on his own. Sridhar chose the latter. He saw an opportunity in e-commerce, where there was a dearth of quality last-mile distribution.
Connect India, was incorporated in August 2015 in Bengaluru to serve as a common distribution platform for e-tail and e-commerce portal services. Connect India ties up with neighborhood kirana stores and transforms them into courier outlets, with deliveries done by the shop staff. Within just a few months, Sridhar has succeeded to rope-in 2,000+ outlets in 250 towns into his network. Sridhar was in his early 60’s when he started his new business.
3. Anandan M, Aptus Value Housing Finance
Anandan was a director in Equitas Micro Finance. Anandan sold his shares in Equitas to start Aptus in Chennai in January 2010 when he was 60.
He wanted to help middle-income group people, who are not usually serviced by banks, to buy their own homes. His idea struck a chord with National Housing Bank, SBI, HDFC, and ICICI. Five years on, Aptus has disbursed more than Rs 560 crore in loans with about 35 branches in Tamil Nadu.
4. Harland David Sanders, Kentucky Fried Chicken
Colonel Sanders worked as a fireman, at gas stations, and as an insurance salesman in his early days. He didn’t retire at the age of 65. Instead, he began selling fried chicken from his roadside restaurant in North Corbin, Kentucky. Sanders later recognized the potential of the restaurant franchising concept, and the first KFC franchise opened in South Salt Lake, Utah, in 1952. When his original restaurant closed, he devoted himself full-time to franchising his fried chicken throughout the country.
At 73, he sold KFC for $2 million. The company went on to become the world's largest fast-food chicken chain, Kentucky Fried Chicken. Today, KFC has over 18,800 outlets (approx.) in more than 80-90 different countries and territories.
5. Wally Amos, Famous Amos Cookies
Wally Amos worked in the New York City mailroom and became a music agent and manager of stars such as Mavin Gaye and the Supremes before starting his company Famous Amos cookies.
Making cookies was something he found fulfillment in doing and the opportunity to start this venture only happened after he was loaned $25, 000. He opened his first bakery just when he was about to turn 40. And within five years he was making about $12 million per year.
6. Leo Godwin, Geico
Leo Godwin was writing insurance policies for his employer and that’s when the idea of starting his own insurance company came. Geico is an American auto insurance company headquartered in Maryland.
Leo Goodwin was in his late 50s when he started this insurance firm! He worked closely with his wife Lillian in running the company. By the end of the year, GEICO had 12 people on staff and 3,700 policies in force. Today, there are more than 16 million Geico auto policyholders, 20 million+ insured vehicles by Geico, and more not less than 15 offices in the U.S alone. So you can imagine how huge the firm is?
7. Robert Noyce, Intel
After earning his doctorate in physics from MIT, Robert Noyce found work as a research engineer, eventually ending up at Beckman Instruments. In 1957, he and seven others left Beckman and founded the Fairchild Semiconductor Corporation. While he enjoyed some success there, he eventually left with Gordon Moore. Together, they founded Intel when Noyce was 41.
Noyce was considered the visionary of the company. He treated employees as family rewarding and always encouraged teamwork. His follow-your-bliss management style set the tone for many Valley success stories. While at Intel, he oversaw the invention of the microprocessor, an innovation that revolutionized computer technology.
8. Reid Hoffman, LinkedIn
Reid Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder, believes his first failed social networking venture with “SocialNet” led to his eventual LinkedIn success.
Like many of the social media giant’s early creations, SocialNet didn’t appear like the most promising platform. Rather than being a total loss, Reid discovered where the demand was and what users wanted. More than that, he discovered that to be successful, you need to hone down the focus of your product to one area.
Hoffman co-founded LinkedIn in December 2002 with two former colleagues from SocialNet (including Allen Blue), a former college classmate and a former colleague from his time at Fujitsu. Hoffman was 35 when he founded the company and 43 when it went public.
9. Arianna Huffington, Huffington Post
Arianna Huffington is the editor-in-chief of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Huffington Post. She started the Huffington Post in 2005 at the age of 55. She was able to run the company successfully to the point where she sold it to AOL for more than $300 million while still being retained as the editor-in-chief of the organization.
Arianna Huffington is also the author of 15 books, including, most recently, Thrive and The Sleep Revolution.
10. Wally Blume, Denali Flavors
Wally Blume spent 20 years in the dairy business before he decided to venture out and start his own business in 1995, Denali Flavors. By 2009 Denali Flavors was making 80 million dollars in revenue. What is interesting to know is that Wally Blume was 57 years old when he decided to start his business and to make it a success.
Today, this dairy treat brings in $80 million a year alone through licensing agreements. Denali now has over 40 flavors (approx.). Blume is still going strong even today.
11. Carol Gardner, Zelda Wisdom
Carol Gardner was 52, when she was divorced, broke and was depressed. After getting a dog at her therapist’s recommendation, Carol Gardner won a local Christmas card contest with a picture of the dog and a funny quip. The win inspired Gardner to start a greeting card company, which she named after her dog, Zelda.
Even today Carol and her almost £40 million company are still going strong. In fact, she’s even planning to start up another venture.
These late-in-life entrepreneurs had something else in common besides tenacity. Their pathways to success were guided by a hidden factor that unveiled itself throughout their life and career.
New projects always start with an idea, no matter what creative field you are in. So discover your own skills and strength and try to turn them into some fruitful and rewarding
Your chance of success has little to do with your age. It’s shaped by your willingness to try repeatedly for a breakthrough. If you want to achieve something, you need to keep trying over and over again. If you never give up, you can never fail.
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